UN to provide additional food to tsunami victims during Ramazan

United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is to provide extra food to tsunami victims in Maldives during the month of Ramazan, Minivan News has reported.

“People living in temporary shelter following the tsunami will receive extra food packages,” WFP said in a press release last week, noting it would be providing extra food to over 63,000 people.

Nina Kolbjornsen, head of Maldives WFP, said the move would enable tsunami affected families to partake properly in traditional Ramazan feasts. “Households traditionally spend more on food during Ramazan. WFP hopes that this additional food will enable people to meet their basic food needs without taxing the limited resources they have to rebuild after the tsunami,” she said.

Over 10,000 people are still living in temporary accommodation following December’s tsunami. Many are becoming increasingly impatient at the slow response from the government.

The World Bank's Maldives Country Director, Alastair McKechnie, told journalists earlier this month that “several thousand” people are still living in “quite bad” conditions and “were now getting impatient waiting for new homes.” He diplomatically added that the government’s overall reconstruction process is “slightly behind schedule.”